Elliot: Newcastle United goalkeeper Rob Elliot has signed a new four-year contract with the club. Elliot, 30, who missed out for Ireland at the Euro 2016 finals due to a knee injury, will stay at St James’ Park until at least 2020. Elliot has made a total of 49 appearances for the Magpies since joining from Charlton five years ago, 23 of those last season.
Gandini: Umberto Gandini has stepped down as managing director at Milan with reports saying he will be taking the same position at Serie A rivals Roma later this month. Milan are in the process of a boardroom overhaul following the takeover by China group Sino-Europe Sports. “After 23 years at Milan, Umberto Gandini leaves us,” a Milan statement said. “You leave here with great regret and affection which, beyond even your unquestionable professional values, will remain forever in all of our hearts.”
UEFA vote: The English Football Association has announced its support for Michael van Praag in the race to replace Michel Platini as UEFA president at next week’s extraordinary congress in Athens. The 68-year-old Dutch football boss is up against the relatively unknown Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin. David Gill, FA vice-chairman and UEFA executive committee member, said English football’s governing body had decided to back Van Praag after careful consideration of the candidates.
Higuain: Gonzalo Higuain, the Juventus striker, is the best-paid player in Serie A, reports said yesterday. For several years, Roma’s Daniele de Rossi was the highest-paid player in Italy but Higuain’s switch from Napoli to Juventus has brought him a contract of €7.5m net per season to De Rossi’s €6.5m. Italy champions Juventus have the highest salary budget in the Serie A at €145m with Inter behind on €120m annually.
Gemmill: The Scottish FA have confirmed Scot Gemmill will take over from Ricky Sbragia as coach of the U-21 team. Scotland U-21s saw their European qualifying hopes ended with a 4-0 defeat by Ukraine in Kiev on Tuesday. Gemmill is to take over from Sbragia for the final two away games, against Macedonia and Iceland next month, and then on into 2019 European Under-21 Champion-ships qualifying campaign.
Honduras: Honduras held Mexico to a 0-0 draw to claim a place in the final stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. Mexico and Honduras will join the US, Trinidad, Costa Rica and Panama in the six-team stage that starts in November. The top three from the final phase of home and away matches will qualify automatically for Russia 2018, while the fourth-placed side will go into a play-off with an Asian team.
Serie B result
Ternana vs Pisa - 1-0